


A Day Without Death

by furiosity



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28126086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/furiosity/pseuds/furiosity
Summary: The only time Thanatos has seen Zagreus's face lately is on the Featured House Servant portrait in the Lounge.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 280
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	A Day Without Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tempt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempt/gifts).



It's a nondescript day or night in the House of Hades, and the useless sundial in the West Hall reads seven forty-eight.

The sundial is useless not only because there is no sun down here, but also because time is different in the Underworld: an hour here could be a day in the mortal world, or it could be five minutes. No one ever quite knows.

Thanatos hears his brother greet a new arrival and half-turns to eye the throne room hallway, just in case it's Zagreus.

It isn't. Like the last seventy-eight times, not that anyone is counting. Certainly not Thanatos.

Zagreus seems to have lost interest in the West Hall since he's finished decorating it, and as much as Thanatos appreciates the furniture making his little corner of the House look like home, he'd rather gaze upon his boyfriend than at a pair of purple-upholstered chairs.

 _Setting the bar pretty low there, mate,_ says the Zagreus living in his head.

Thanatos sighs and, for the seventy-ninth time, ports to Zagreus's chambers. Just in case. 

All the shades are gossiping about Zag's skyrocketing ranking lately. No one else in the House has a ranking, so Thanatos suspects this is just another one of Lord Hades' stratagems for keeping his wayward son occupied.

Thanatos is torn on how to feel: on one hand, he is a servant of the House, and as such it pleases him that he and his beloved share a common burden. On the other hand, the only time he's seen Zagreus's face lately is on the Featured House Servant portrait in the Lounge. This, he hates.

Thanatos looks away from the ostentatious artwork adorning Zag's walls and walks up to the floor-to-ceiling opaque glass monstrosity along the west wall. Zag calls it a mirror, but Thanatos can't see his reflection in it; it's perfect darkness contained inexplicably in an elaborate frame. A gift from Mother Nyx.

The fancy recliner near the mirror is almost identical to the one Zag had made for him, and Thanatos sinks down onto it to close his eyes, to sit quietly, to share Zag's space even if he isn't here with him.

_A scrivener named Bion succumbs to a fever that's gripped him for some weeks._  
_He knows that death will come for him, he's made his peace, and now he waits._

Thanatos's eyes open to find Zagreus peering into his face with a look of mild concern. He brightens when their eyes meet. "Did you miss me?"

Thanatos doesn't know why his first impulse is to contradict Zagreus, but he doesn't want to dwell upon that now. "Hardly. We just met in Asphodel, didn't we?"

"So we did." Zagreus grins and reaches for Thanatos's belt. "Shall we?"

It's been like that almost every time they ended up in here: Thanatos happens by, they have sex, and then he leaves for his next assignment. It'd be so easy to let the moment carry him along, but Thanatos _misses_ Zagreus, misses just _being_ in the same place at the same time. 

"Let's not," he says, taking Zagreus's hand and pulling him onto the recliner instead.

"Whoa," Zagreus says, bouncing up and down experimentally. "I forgot what sitting down feels like."

His equanimity at being rejected irritates Thanatos for some reason he can't even fathom. He could probably figure it out if he thought about it long enough, but thinking about Zagreus for too long turns him into a complete ninny.

_Ratna the weaver is old; so old that even her youngest apprentice already has children ready to marry._  
_Death is welcome by Ratna's side, but for naught._

"How come you don't want to, you know?" Zagreus ventures after Thanatos doesn't reply. "Everything good?"

"Everything's fine. It's not even that I don't want to. I just. Don't _you_ ever just want to sit down and take a moment?"

"Not really. Being still makes my feet itch." As if to underscore his point, Zagreus fidgets this way and that, then gets up and paces over to the mirror. He brightens. "Maybe we could walk Cerberus together, what do you say?"

"If your father saw me walking the dog with you like I don't have a job to do, he'd have both our hides."

_A sharp pain laces through the festival dancer's back mid-flip._  
_Tidam crumples to the floor and waits, and waits, and waits._

"So is this how it's always going to be with the two of us, Than?"

"I don't know what to tell you--"

"I'm not complaining," Zagreus cuts in. "I know your work is important. I just wish you'd let me make time for you even if you can't make time for me." 

"Make time?"

"See, when Meg and I were together, we hardly saw each other because even when she had time, I was often off doing something frivolous and couldn't be bothered. I don't want that for you and me."

Thanatos isn't quite sure why it feels like there are seventeen cats gently clawing at the insides of his chest.

"I've been trying to make time for you," Zagreus continues. "I came to you in the West Hall so many times, and you didn't even want to chat."

"Is _that_ why you haven't been by lately? Because I don't have time for small talk?"

Zagreus glares at him.

_There was something in the mushrooms her sister brought in from her forest walk._  
_Lihua prepares, resigned, for Death's arrival._

"I didn't come here to pick a fight," Thanatos says, unnerved by Zagreus's cold gaze.

"Well, you could have fooled me." Zagreus resumes pacing. "I am only trying to be a good partner."

Thanatos wants to say something befitting the moment -- encouragement? feigned indifference? gratitude? -- but the moment passes, and he doesn't speak. How can Zagreus make him so tongue-tied, after all these years they've known each other? The nature of their relationship may have changed recently, but its basis has always remained the same. It's easy to act as though nothing's changed, but it won't do: Thanatos, too, wants to be a good partner, whatever that means.

"What would you have us do differently?" he asks. "I have time now." He doesn't; his time was up ten minutes ago, but he doesn't want to leave things like this.

Zagreus continues to pace in front of the mirror. "You ever fish?"

"Fish." Thanatos was expecting-- he doesn't even know what he was expecting. Zagreus has always had the power to surprise him, in the best and worst ways.

"Maybe you can join me sometime. You don't always need to help me fight shades, you know."

Thanatos has no idea what exactly is involved in fishing, but Zagreus's eyes are sparkling. This, he likes. "Maybe I can. Let's... fish."

Zagreus beams. "I caught a sturgeon near the Underworld gate the other day. It's really peaceful there, you should come next time."

"Let's choose a time when Helios is elsewhere," Thanatos says. "And this time, try to call me when you're _not_ in the middle of trying to best your father..?"

"I have watched the sunrise a few times," Zagreus says, resolutely ignoring Thanatos's last. "It was so beautiful, every time, but it made me feel incredibly lonely. I don't know why. Does the sunlight hurt you?"

Thanatos blinks. "Hurt me? I don't think so. It certainly makes it difficult to see anything, so I prefer to go when it is dark."

"Do you resent the mortals, then? For making you go up there at any odd time?"

"Resent them? No. I am responsible for guiding them. Besides, they aren't like us, you know? Some of them die to save one of their own, or even a beloved animal."

Zagreus nods. "I get it. I'd die for Cerberus."

"You _don't_ really get it, though," Thanatos says with some irritation. "Your death, while inevitable, isn't permanent. After gods die, we are forged anew by my sisters' decree, and we simply return to our previous existence. When mortals die, it's forever. They manage to find one another in the Underworld sometimes, but it's so rare as to be an aberration. They certainly never see their beloved animals again, yet risk their lives for them all the same."

Zagreus's eyes are soft. "You actually care a great deal for them, don't you?"

Heat prickles Thanatos's cheeks. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You drive me mad, but you're always giving me new reasons to fall in love with you." Zagreus kisses him, and it turns out that's all Thanatos wants to think about.

_Priestess Saqui takes a step wrong on the mountain path to the temple._  
_The fall that should have killed her, doesn't._

"I could tie you to my bed. Then you can't leave," Zagreus suggests when they come up for air.

"Very funny, Zagreus. The last time someone tied me up was during the Sisyphus affair. I've got no desire to revisit that particular event timeline."

"Sisyphus, huh? Are you ever going to tell me more about it?"

"No, and if you so much as suggest tying me up, ever again, I'm leaving." 

Thanatos regrets the words immediately, for his mind has helpfully provided a vivid scenario of Zagreus doing as he pleases while Thanatos is bound up in restraints. He's going to have to find a way to walk this comment back sometime. Sometime soon. For now, he's content to have Zagreus kiss his neck and finally get back to work on that belt buckle.

 _Djau's chest pain gets so bad in the middle of a lesson that he has to send his pupils home._  
_Soon his heart is like a dying sun, its pain reaching everywhere at once, and respite is slow in coming._

Mortals think that death can come for you at any time, but they're wrong. Sometimes, Death is... occupied.

"THANATOS!" booms Hades's voice through the walls. "I _KNOW_ YOU'RE HERE!"

"Oops," murmurs Zagreus against Thanatos's collarbone. "We've been found out."

Thanatos sighs, redoing his belt as he pushes Zagreus off. "I have to go, or we'll both get reprimanded. Wouldn't want to tarnish your stellar ranking, oh prince."

"You little--" Zagreus begins to say, but Thanatos ports away before he can complete the sentence. It feels pretty good to always get the last word, even if it takes dimensional magic.

In the West Hall, the sundial still shows seven forty-eight.

For the mortals, a day has passed, but they haven't yet noticed that no one has died peacefully today when by rights they should have, and Thanatos will make sure they don't notice. He _will_ make time for Zagreus, though of course he'll never admit it to anyone. Especially Zagreus.

_Citlali the stonecutter trudges homeward through the desert, his waterskin long empty, and falls down halfway, crawling, ready to die._

"I am here."


End file.
